Resolution begins to play out for ill-fated arena project

LAKEWOOD RANCH -- The fate of the weathered concrete shell of what was supposed to be a $70 million hockey arena at Lakewood Ranch could be settled in April.

The fenced-off and abandoned arena skeleton and the vacant acreage around it create a sense of desolation. Vandals scrawled graffiti on concrete blocks that appear to form the base of stairs several stories high.

Mired in controversy for several years and surrounded by acres of high weeds and scattered concrete pipes, the three walls and the angled beams propping them up bear little resemblance to the 7,500-seat sports arena once envisioned in the upscale development on the Manatee-Sarasota county line.

A foreclosure sale of the 60-acre arena site is pending a hearing that could be held in 60 to 90 days.

Schroeder-Manatee Ranch Inc., Lakewood Ranch's developer and the mortgage-holder of the property, and Landmark Bank has won a Manatee County circuit court ruling that sets the stage for a sale.

Walbridge Aldinger, the Detroit-based general contractor hired by DVA Sports LLC to construct the multi-purpose sports facility, contended in court that it was misled by Landmark about the project's financing.

A judge ruled in late February that neither Landmark nor SMR falsely represented any facts about the DVA loan, according to the partial summary judgment regarding the mortgage holder priority.

Nailing down the debt

The next step for SMR involves filing a final motion in court that details calculations of the amount owed and seeks court verification of the amount in addition to an order setting the foreclosure sale. The final amount, based on court records in lawsuits that have been filed, probably will be around $5 million.

Originally, DVA had a loan ceiling of $50 million but only borrowed a small percentage of that.

DVA purchased the arena site from SMR in 2004 and began construction with $4.1 million in financing from Landmark.

Walbridge ceased work in February 2005, claiming DVA was behind in payments and later sued DVA, filing a lien against the arena site for about $10 million.

Landmark had a first mortgage on the site, sued DVA for nonpayment of the loan and assigned its interest in the mortgage to SMR in March 2006, court records show.

Minimal discussion

Neither Sal Diaz-Verson, chair and owner of DVA Sports, nor Luis Prats, the company's attorney, could be reached. Diaz-Verson and DVA have disputed the allegations in court documents.

In a statement, Dan Perka, SMR's attorney, described the partial summary judgment decision as a route to "move forward to give development of this site a fresh start."

Whatever the outcome of pending legal issues, it is likely that some kind of sports or multiple use facility will occupy the arena's 60 acres.

It was sold with a deed restriction requiring the property be used for construction of a multipurpose facility. The deed restriction is in effect for 20 years.

WHAT'S planned

The site near the northeast corner of State Road 70 and Lakewood Ranch Boulevard sits smack in the middle of a 697-acre mixed-use project planned for Lakewood Ranch called Lakewood Centre.

The project, which will be reviewed by Manatee County in the next several months, includes 436 single-family homes, about 3,200 multifamily units, 1.7 million square feet of commercial space, 1.5 million square feet of office space and 300 hotel rooms.

"We're able to continue moving forward even with that (arena situation)," said Sondra Guffey, VP of communications and marketing at Lakewood Ranch.